Kent ice dam fully melted, officials say

An ice jam that formed along the Housatonic River in Kent last month has fully broken up and melted, officials said Saturday.

An ice jam that formed along the Housatonic River in Kent last month has fully broken up and melted, officials said Saturday.

Photo: Contributed Photo /Rep. Brian M. Ohler

Photo: Contributed Photo /Rep. Brian M. Ohler

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An ice jam that formed along the Housatonic River in Kent last month has fully broken up and melted, officials said Saturday.

An ice jam that formed along the Housatonic River in Kent last month has fully broken up and melted, officials said Saturday.

Photo: Contributed Photo /Rep. Brian M. Ohler

Kent ice dam fully melted, officials say

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KENT — An ice jam that formed along the Housatonic River last month has fully broken up and melted, officials said Saturday.

State Rep. Brian M. Ohler (R-64), the public information officer for the Incident Command Team, said temperatures and moderate precipitation over the last week and a half allowed the ice to loosen and move out of Kent.

“The ice jam, in its entirety, has broken up, dislodged, and now melted into the history books,” Ohler said in a final update online. “This is exactly the scenario that Incident Managers and Meteorologists were hoping for.”

Kent First Selectman Bruce Adams, ended a localized state of emergency on Friday that had been in place for 33 days, Ohler said.

At its peak, the ice dam reached nearly two miles and in length. Resulting flooding forced a dozen residents from their homes and prompted a weeklong closure of the Kent School, a private boarding school along the riverbank south of the town center. A stretch of Route 7, the town’s main road, was closed for two intervals totaling nearly a week.

Ohler said “thankfully there were no fatalities or injuries” from the jam, but that a few families are still receiving assistance for damages to their home from the ice and flooding.